The best camera is the one you have on you...especially if it has all the addictive, contrasty, soon-to-be-parodied nostalgia of Instagram. Here are your best shots from this week's Instagram Shooting Challenge.
Winner: Boots at Golden Gate Bridge
A few friends and I came up to San Francisco and I thought I'd show them around. It's a rainy week in California, but nevertheless we decided to go on a walk down to the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. The lighting turned out to be pretty cool and I thought it'd be a good chance to make my first Gizmodo submission. I used my favorite filter, Amaro, and the clarity booster to capture my friends trying to stay dry.
-Blake
ClearWater Beach
The equipment I was using was a iPhone 4, the setting was ClearWater Beach, Florida.
story. My name is Jarod Dickerson and this was taken during my spring break this past march, and I wanted to capture scene that I had on my beach chair with my friends that day. It was perfect weather that day, and my friends legs just clip the bottom of the picture to really give a POV perspective of the picture.
- Jarod Dickerson
Coffee Shop (Bar)
Photo was just a spur of the moment thing while sitting outside having drinks.
- Peter Sharp
Koi Pond
Shot using my Motorola Xoom. Hey it's instagram, not a large level of detail here. A shot of my lil old koi pond.
- Marvin Franco
The Old Ball Game
For my wife's birthday, I decided to take her out to see the Texas Rangers play. We always love going out to the games, especially one this early on in the season. Less heat. Anyways, I remembered the challenge and have always wanted to participate. So I figured what better time than at the game. We had decent seats, and this was the best shot that I got from that night. I used the tilt-shift feature, and "Inkwell" filter for this shot. I liked the black and white look that the "Inkwell" filter offered because it reminded me of vintage ball park shots. I took this with my iPhone 4. Enjoy!
- Lucas Schneider
Dead Flowers
This shot is called Dead Flowers, d'uh! It was shot in my bathroom where I had pretty good light but wanted to darken the photo slightly. Using the iPhone 4s and the x-pro II filter, it gave it that creepy nine inch nails look. I added a little blur for detail. These are my wife's wedding flowers from about five years ago. They've got about two inches of dust on them!
Jason Vanheirseele
Joy
Taken at a park near our home in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. Our 2 oldest kids were laughing and enjoying the beautiful day. No worries, no fear...just joy.
- Merik Fell
Rocks at the Seawall
I took this whilst walking along the seawall in beautiful Vancouver. All around the seawall people (assuming its people although ive never seen them) create these balanced stone sculptures, which caught my eye. Jumped down on to the rocks, took one snap and instagramed all the space of about 30 seconds. I think i used Valencia with the sun thing on. Anyways i was super impressed with the result of not only the iphone 4s camera but also the software.
- David Kenny
A Jail?
Photo taken 8/24/11 in Green Bay, WI. Instagram filter: Gotham
- Pete
Newman Leather
I was walking back from a meeting on Washington Street in Hoboken when I came upon the back side of the Newman Leather building. The shot was almost too good to be true and I kinda wish I had my DSLR, but only had the phone on me. Under the fire escape was parked a bad ass street bike - I felt like it was on a movie set or something. This is the shot I was able to get, and to me it's aesthetically perfect. I hope you enjoy!
- Adam
Too Good to Pass Up
This photo was taken somewhere on the I5 between San Francisco and LA. It probably wasn't the best idea to snap a photo while I was driving, but the combination of the sunsetting, and the daydreamy look of my girlfriend was too good to pass up. Taken with the iPhone 4S.
- Sean Ferris
Interestingly enough, this may have been the most personal Shooting Challenge we've had to date. Rather than a technical showcase, the galleries below are like a window into all of your lives. Whether you love or hate Instagram, it's tough to argue with any technology that makes people so comfortable taking and sharing snapshots—snapshots that would otherwise be photos yellowing in a musty family album.